I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the fabrication of building components and, in particular, the present invention relates to a prefabricated steeple for churches and the like.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, it has been customary to fabricate steeples from wood, the same being generally accomplished at the site of construction. Because of the high-labor and material expenses encountered in present-day construction, the cost of conventional wooden steeples is very high. It has been suggested that wooden church steeples be manufactured on a mass-production basis employing all the techniques which would result in a less expensive steeple. However, such a suggestion has several major drawbacks. These include the cost of shipping the assembled steeple, as the assembled steeple is very heavy and thus difficult to handle and transport in a simple ane economical fashion. Additionally, the assembled, prefabricated church steeple would need to be packaged in such a manner as to protect the finished wood surface. It has been further suggested that such prefabricated church steeples be shipped in a knocked-down fashion; and while not overcoming the major disadvantage of the weight of such wooden prefabricated steeples, the bulkiness of such steeples would be eliminated. Such a situation, however, results in the necessity of requiring skilled carpenters to assemble the wooden steeple at the construction site.
Certain of the prior art structures have been fabricated from a fiberglass material; however, due to the disadvantage of the weight of such fiberglass structures, they are very difficult to handle and transport in that they require a crane for lifting the assembled steeple to the roof of the building on which such steeples are to be mounted and must be crated for shipping in order to protect the fiberglass material.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a church steeple which is of light-weight construction to facilitate the ease of shipment and handling and yet one which is inexpensive to manufacture and assemble at the construction site where the church steeple is to be employed.